A Teacher
Russell Conwell
Opportunity lies in one’s own backyard
The transmission
Russell Herman Conwell was born on 15 February 1843 in South Worthington, Massachusetts. He served as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War, then worked as a lawyer, journalist, and author before being ordained a Baptist minister.
In 1882 he became pastor of the Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, later known as the Baptist Temple, which he built into one of the largest congregations in the country. From classes he began offering to working people who wished to prepare for the ministry, Conwell founded Temple College, chartered in 1888 and now Temple University, serving as its first president until his death.
Conwell is best remembered for his inspirational lecture “Acres of Diamonds,” which he is reported to have delivered some six thousand times across the United States. Built around a parable he heard during travels in the Middle East, the lecture argued that the resources for prosperity lie within each person’s own circumstances and that it is honourable, even a duty, to acquire wealth in order to do good.
The proceeds funded scholarships and the growth of Temple University. Conwell died on 6 December 1925 in Philadelphia.
What they gave
“Acres of Diamonds”: Popularised the conviction that opportunity is already present in one’s own situation and awaits only recognition and effort, a recurring premise in later success literature.
- Sanctioning prosperity: Framed the pursuit of wealth as morally legitimate and socially useful, helping to fuse religious aspiration with material ambition in American culture.
- Mass motivational lecture: Pioneered the large-scale inspirational lecture as a vehicle for shaping belief and behaviour, anticipating the modern motivational-seminar format.
- Belief-driven self-betterment: Emphasised that a person’s outlook and willingness to see opportunity govern their material outcomes.
In their words
I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich.
Now then, I say again that the opportunity to get rich, to attain unto great wealth, is here in Philadelphia now, within the reach of almost every man and woman who hears me speak to-night.
The line they stand in
Taught by / Influenced by: The nineteenth-century American self-made-man ideal and Baptist social-gospel currents that joined personal industry to moral and civic duty.
- Taught / Influenced: Later success writers including W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill, and the broader stream of American prosperity and success literature that echoed his “opportunity at home” theme.